Cybelle Fox

Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley

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About Cybelle

Fox's main research interests are in race; immigration and the American welfare state. Her most recent book; Three Worlds of Relief (Princeton University Press; 2012); compares the incorporation of Blacks; Mexicans; and European immigrants in the American welfare system from the Progressive Era to the New Deal. Fox won six book awards for Three Worlds of Relief; including the 2012 C. Wright Mills Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Her next book project focuses on the rise of citizenship and legal status restrictions in American social welfare policy since the New Deal.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

If Immigration Reform is Enacted, Will Newly Legalized Migrants Have Access to Federal Social Benefits?

Basic Facts Brief, May 2013

Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State

Key Findings Brief, April 2012

In the News

Research discussed by Debra Viadero, in "Lessons Sifted from Tragedy at Columbine," Education Week, April 7, 2009.

Publications

"Unauthorized Welfare: The Origins of Immigrant Status Restrictions in American Social Policy" Journal of American History 102, no. 4 (2016): 1051-1074.

"White by Law, Not in Practice: Explaining the Gulf in Citizenship Acquisition between Mexican and European Immigrants, 1930" (with Irene Bloemraad). Social Forces (2015).

Examines naturalization trends for Asian, European, and Mexican immigrants between 1790 and 1952. Explores beyond analyses focused on formal law or individual-level determinants to underscore the importance of region and non-white social status in influencing naturalization.

"Defining America’s Racial Boundaries: Blacks, Mexicans, and European Immigrants, 1890-1945" (with Thomas Guglielmo). American Journal of Sociology 118, no. 2 (September 2012): 327-379.

Compares the strength of racial boundaries surrounding blacks, Mexicans, and Southern and Eastern European immigrants in the Progressive and New Deal eras.

"Three Worlds of Relief: Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State from the Progressive Era to the New Deal" (Princeton University Press, 2012).

Investigates how blacks, Mexicans, and European immigrants were incorporated into the early American welfare state.

"Three Worlds of Relief: Race, Immigration, and Public and Private Social Welfare Spending in American Cities, 1929" American Journal of Sociology 116, no. 2 (September 2010): 453-502.

Examines how race and immigration influenced local welfare spending on the eve of the Great Depression.

"The Changing Color of Welfare? How Whites’ Attitudes Toward Latinos Influence Support for Welfare" American Journal of Sociology 110, no. 3 (November 2004): 580-625.

Shows how white Americans’ stereotypes of Latinos influence their support for welfare